Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Moves Like Jaggar

In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine published their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Number 2 on that list was the band The Rolling Stones’ “(I cant get no), Satisfaction.”

I know, your probably singing the next line already… Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try. I can’t get no...

(I apologize in advance if this is stuck in your head for the rest of the day.)

So what does the Rolling Stones have to do with our reading today? Glad you asked.

Genesis 25:7-8 told us, Abraham lived for 175 years, and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He figured out what Mick Jaggar had not.

Abraham’s life was far from perfect- but he was satisfied.

Abraham dealt with extreme difficulties- but he was satisfied.

Abraham had family problems- but he was satisfied.

I want to know what his secret was, don't you? Because we all want to live a fulfilled life too but more often than not, like Mick, we’re dissatisfied.

I recently read a moving story that David Jeremiah wrote about Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, the international Christian relief agency. Bob had advanced leukemia, but he went to visit a colleague in Indonesia before he died.

As they were walking through a small village, they came upon a young girl lying on a bamboo mat next to a river. She was dying of cancer and had only a short time to live. Bob was indignant. He demanded to know why she wasn’t in a clinic.

But his friend explained that she was from the jungle and wished to spend her last days next to the river, where it was cool and familiar. As Bob gazed at her, he felt such compassion that he got down on his knees in the mud, took her hand, and began stroking it.

Although she didn’t understand him, he prayed for her. Afterward she looked up and said something. "What did she say?" Bob asked his friend. His friend relied, "She said, 'If I could only sleep again, if I could only sleep again.'" It seemed that her pain was too great to allow her the relief of rest.

Bob began to weep. Then he reached into his pocket and took out his own sleeping pills, the ones his doctor had given him because the pain from his leukemia was too great for him to sleep at night. He handed the bottle to his friend. “You make sure this young lady gets a good night’s sleep," he said, "as long as these pills last."

Bob was ten days away from where he could get his prescription refilled. That meant ten painful and restless nights. That day his servanthood cost him greatly. But even in the midst of his suffering, God had infused a supernatural sense of satisfaction that he had done the right thing.

To have a satisfied life does not mean that you will have a trouble free life.

What truly satisfies is doing what is right, even when it leaves you in pain.

Abraham knew this truth.

Sacrificing his son would be painful, but it was right.

Allowing Lot to choose the choicest land wasn’t easy, but it was right.

Believing at 100 he could become a daddy wasn’t easy, but it was right.

He was not perfect but he did learn that doing the right thing, at the right time, would make him right with God.

And satisfied with life.

John Piper notes, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

So, what right thing is God calling you to do at the beginning of this year, because if you do it, at the end of 2013 you will be… satisfied and God will be glorified.